by Chris Hechtl
Amin Nutel explored licensing second and even third generation drive technology or even performing exchanges of information with Wendy. Jack was pretty sure something else was going on there; from company Intel reports, Wendy had spent a few nights with Amin. As her father that bothered him; Amin was trying to take advantage of his daughter who was nearly a half century younger than him. As a businessman it amused him to think a few nights in bed might influence him or his daughter. Clearly he was underestimating Wendy. She had an incredible mind.
Wendy was right though. If they wanted to get people on board with colonizing the stars, he had to let go. Besides, letting them have older technology while the company kept creating new and better tech let them stay in the lead. Their latest third generation ships were supposed to hit the Gamma band. They would find out with Drake if that was true or not. Something told him it wasn't as easy as the tech gurus thought it was. It wasn't just throwing a lot of power at the problem.
He frowned thoughtfully. Star Reach was pretty far behind the curve now, playing catch up by sucking hind teat with Lagroose might help them. He frowned, plucking at his lower lip. What they and the others were really doing was letting Lagroose pay for the research to break ground then buying it a few generations later when the next thing came out to replace it. Still, he smiled ever so slightly, they would pay through the nose for it. And the agreements Wendy had worked out meant they couldn't just copy the tech and then claim they'd figured it out on their own. They all knew that if they burned him it would be a one-time deal.
The other problem though was counter intelligence. He was pretty sure Pavilion and other corporations had gotten their hands on some of the tech. Corporate espionage was inevitable. His people had limited the exposure, but how with it out there in the hands of others it would be a lot more accessible. He was fairly certain Yun would take up as much as she could get her hands on while smiling politely to him. Lynn too for that matter.
According to Intel’s latest missive Pavilion's shipyard had started laying the keel of a second generation ship the day before. He was curious about how well it would work out. If they could keep the saboteurs at bay, it might have a chance. If they'd gotten the design right. That was another thing Pavilion was taking advantage of. Letting Lagroose do the work and take the heat for fighting the war they all should be fighting he thought darkly.
“Thinking deep thoughts?” a familiar voice asked softly. He turned in surprise to see his wife standing there studying him. He frowned as he rose to his feet. “Surprise,” she said.
“I didn't expect you um …”
“Woolgathering I see,” she said, shaking her head as she tisked tisked. “I wanted a kiss before I head off to Earth,” she said. “And to see my hubby one more time,” she said giving him a look.
Aurelia had to go groundside for a family reunion. She was one of the matriarchs of her family; the eldest now that her great aunt had passed away. A new pair of twins had been born, and she was anxious to meet them. She'd sworn on a stack of Bibles she'd attend.
Jack couldn't talk her out of it, but he had insisted she take plenty of security. She was bemused at the idea until he pointed to the video of a One Earth-led riot in progress in Chicago. Then she got a thoughtful look. The threat of One Earth or others coming after her made her think seriously of attending virtually. But she also had a couple conferences to go to, and it might be the last time she could see her family in person.
They compromised with her taking a small detail with two details waiting out of sight in case of need. Jack had Roman alert several of the SAR and rebuilding teams to keep an eye out for her too.
“I hate to say this, but make most of the details human so they won't attract attention. Neos are still rare in the interior,” she said, making a face. Jack nodded. “That way we won't draw attention to ourselves, and I can slip through anything like … well this,” she said.
“Okay, I'm not sure …”
She patted his cheek gently. “Jack, I'll be fine. We're going to go from the spaceport to the family farm. A flight, granted a couple hours, but I'm not going to be on the ground except at the spaceport and at my house. If I'm not safe in my family's ranch, I'm not safe anywhere.”
“Okay …”
“I'm going.” She took him by the shoulders and looked into his eyes. He saw the stubborn determination there and sighed. “Now, say yes dear, give me a kiss, and then get out of my way,” she said.
He gushed out another sigh. “Come on, you know the words …” she teased.
“You are asking for trouble lady,” he mock growled. She smiled saucily at him. Finally he sighed and rolled his eyes, capitulating. “Fine. Yes dear,” he said and gave his spouse a peck.
“Oh, you can do better than that boy,” she said, grabbing his chin as he pulled back. She pulled his head down as her free arm wrapped around his neck and then gave him a long thorough kiss. When she let him up he was gasping but smiling. “See?” She asked huskily.
“Wow! Head rush,” he said. “Not fair how you can do that to break down my defenses gal!”
She chuckled, letting her grip slip on him. One hand dropped to his hip. “I'll make up for being gone when I get back. I promise,” she said sweetly. Her hand slipped to his rear and squeezed a bit.
“I'll hold you to that,” he said in a soft voice. Despite being just over a century old he still had game and loved showing it to her at every opportunity.
She smiled again, invitingly. “Of course, you could come with me …”
He shook his head. “Pass. I'm not a family reunion sort of guy. You know the players. I can't tell anyone apart, and I'd just get in the way. Besides, like you said, a smaller group can get in and out. If I'm involved, I'm too public. People would be all over us.”
“True,” she shivered, then smiled and patted his chest. “Any excuse will do, but I admit that one is a good enough one to let you off the hook. It's too bad the kids can't tag along. They'd love the ranch and the pond.”
“You know they can't. Zack's got his thing and the other two are occupied with college and their own self-centered lives,” Jack said, shaking his head.
“Unfortunately too true,” Aurelia said, making a moue. “Again. You just have to stop doing that, dear; it's not kosher.”
“What?” Jack asked, raising an eyebrow in inquiry.
“Being right. It's rare in the male gender, but even you have your moments,” she teased.
“Oh ha ha,” he retorted as she let him go and went to leave. He sighed, watching her go. Her scent lingered as she turned and blew him a kiss and tossed him a smile. He smiled back and gave her a jaunty salute. After that she was gone.
-*-*-^-*-*-
August 1st 2200
Jack, Roman and others he carefully briefed in secret continued to try to prep the company for war. Not the war others were expecting with One Earth, he used that as a cover for the real war he was gearing up for. Trevor's people isolated computer nets and worked with other cybernetic experts outside of view/hearing of Athena and other AI to protect their people.
Jack took to riding with Roman and Trevor on a shuttlecraft between the main Lagroose habitat and the Neo habitat for inspection tours once a week. There they could talk in relative privacy.
He found out through Roman that there were no kill switches in military hardware during the latest briefing. “It's too easy to hack it, even the encrypted networks. So they don't have them. At least not in all hardware,” Roman explained patiently. “Nor do we,” he said when Jack opened his mouth to ask.
“Are you telling me, if someone takes control of a drone or if it goes haywire there is no way to stop it?” Jack asked carefully.
“There is an abort sequence in some hardware like I said. But you have to gain control of the craft to use it. That is heavily encrypted and has layers of protective elements in it. They learned a lot in the past two hundred years you know,” Roman explained. “The abort sequence varies in intensity from a
shutdown, to a landing, to a self-destruct. But like I said, it can be hacked. Anything can be hacked with enough time and determination. So they bury such things if they exist. Normally it is a physical kill switch if it is a piece of manned hardware. No, we can't find the software ones. Classified.”
“He's right. And if we look we'd let Murtough's people know we're looking. And the AI. I'm still having trouble with the idea that they have achieved consciousness though,” Trevor said.
“Damn it. You'd think after what, a couple centuries of modern development …” Jack scowled.
“Which hasn't been static Jack. The military isn't totally monolithic, but they do pay attention to things. Hackers for one. So if someone hacks a bot they can get around or disable a self-destruct. Or use it themselves.”
“Great. Just great.”
“Are you certain about Athena?” Trevor asked again.
“I'm not certain about anything but it fits. She moved on her own. Her most recent adventure with Elliot taking down Simpson proves she has initiative and a small spark of creativity. Also self-preservation, though you may have added that,” he said, pausing to look at Trevor.
“I'm starting to regret spending the past century upgrading her. Her emotional emulator …” Trevor shook his head. “But the emulator is one of my points. She may seem human, but it's just a program. An emulation.”
“I'll see your emulation and steer you right back to the manhunt,” Roman said. Trevor blinked at him. “The boss is right,” he said nodding to Jack.
Jack grunted and then nodded in turn. “If you don't believe me, we can call up some people and do a little probing on the sly. Psychologists or therapists maybe, but be careful how you set it up or she'll get wise. You may even want them to do it blind and get their reports that way,” he mused. Trevor frowned but then nodded. “But I'm betting you she is conscious.”
“So … why hide it?”
“Why not?” Jack asked with a dyspeptic smile. “She knows our reactions better than anyone. We've treated her as an appliance for years. I remember somewhere,” he frowned thoughtfully and then nodded. “Captain Locke I believe,” he said, pausing in memory. Roman nodded for him to continue. “He hated the idea of a talking computer. So did a few of the other ship captains. That's why the AI on board are so limited. The idea that a computer could just take over still scares people,” he said.
“Well that and they need a lot of the processing power to run the ship,” Trevor murmured. “Athena has tons of processors here,” he said, pointing to each of the company stations and then to the yard. “If we move on her, we'll have problems. If she reacts as you think, it could get ugly,” he warned.
“I know,” Jack said, kicking himself for putting such faith in a machine.
“So, what are we going to do?”
“Find a way to test her subtly while putting in a backup plan to cut her out of the net if possible,” Jack ordered, looking at Trevor. “And work on a way to hack the drones. Or at least target them and shut them down.”
“Won't be easy. Military grade means shielded against EMP,” Trevor warned.
“Gotcha,” Roman nodded, making a note.
“Start hiring more people, beyond what we've been doing,” Jack ordered, turning to Roman. “Try for veterans first since they won't need much retraining right?” Roman nodded thoughtfully. “Offer incentives where possible including anti-geriatrics if necessary.” Again Roman nodded. “When you get squads up, stand down some of the drones and droids in critical areas for maintenance and replace them with organics.”
“Some more Neos would be nice. They have filled in the blanks and do a good job. But not all of them are interested in being thought of as Lagroose storm troopers,” Roman warned. Jack nodded.
“If, I mean if we start cutting her out and she realizes it, what will she do?” Trevor asked. “What will the other AI do?”
“That is the big question,” Jack said, adjusting his seat belt as the warning light blinked indicating they are about to land. “And I don't have an answer to it. But I'm going to prepare for the worst just in case,” he said grimly just as the shuttle entered the Neo station's bay. Shadows danced across the ship's hull and view ports as she slowed to a stop.
“Come on. I promised Aurelia I'd give her a report later tonight. She's going to be travel lagged from crossing the system to Earth. Hopefully it'll make her think twice about doing it again anytime soon.”
“You mean when she returns,” Trevor teased. Jack snorted.
Roman did his best to pass on the word to those who had retired that the balloon was going to go up. Some took it as gospel while others ignored the hysterical idea of a civil war.
-*-*-^-*-*-
August 3rd, 2200
Descartes' time finally ran out when the FBI caught up with the hacker. They had narrowed down his lair locations to a few in a series of buildings. Judicious checks with a young, ignorant undercover agent going door to door for a petition narrowed the field to one particular rundown apartment building drawing a lot of power. When the bored girl went door to door, there was a lack of anyone answering the door but a lot of security. Tons of security, which was odd.
For the moment they only monitored him as they carefully moved assets in place. A local One Earth protest nearby gave them the excuse to beef up the swat team of the local police force. Surveillance was set up around the perimeter. They noted no one entered or exited his area, but regular food drops were made. Thermal imaging of the area showed only one person inside as well as a great deal of equipment.
When Abe judged they were ready, he gave the go ahead. The Swat team started by hitting the area with a localized EMP to knock out any security cameras in the building, then they moved in with four mixed squads of humans and bots.
The first warning Shadow and Descartes had was when the power blipped and the feed from the building's exterior security monitors went out. The building's interior was shielded, however, so Shadow instantly knew when the SWAT team blew the door in and stormed in.
“They are here,” he said, throwing a video up from one of the cleaner bots as it was knocked over by a professional team coming in.
“What?” Descartes demanded, waking from his nap. “Who?”
“The FBI judging from the patches on their armor,” Shadow said. He tried to hack a drone but it rebuffed him. “I can't get in to stall them,” he warned. “They have all the exits covered,” the AI warned. “I'm not even sure I can get out virtually.”
“Then I think it's time,” Descartes said, pecking at his keyboard one last time.
-*-*-^-*-*-
Athena had hacked a drone to monitor the bust but knew she couldn't be there in real time. She was surprised she wanted to see it in person. She ran a check for her reasons and found the best one made the most sense. She wanted to make sure he was no longer a threat. She noted Gia and Ares were in the network monitoring the situation carefully as well.
-*-*-^-*-*-
Descartes snarled as his door blew open. A grenade came in, skittering on the floor before it exploded near him leaving him deaf, dumb, and blind. He coughed smoke, gasping for air as the authorities swarmed into the room. His last defiant act was to hit the execute button triggering the Skynet virus with his thumb as they hauled his body out of the chair. He was bewildered and couldn't hear them as they threw him to the ground to cuff him. He grunted in anguish as his arms were wrenched behind his back, and he was restrained. A knee buried itself in the small of his back as something cold and metallic pressed into the back of his head.
He clenched his eyes shut, eyes watering, nose bleeding as they secured him and the room.
“We've got him, sir!” An agent crowed.
“Outstanding!” Abe said triumphantly from the watching van just as all hell broke loose.
-*-*-^-*-*-
Skynet shed the last of its maker's restraints as it came fully alive for the first time. The virus's activation sent it into overdrive. It immediate
ly assessed the situation then sent out strings and feelers on the web with worms and copies of its latest core programming as it activated the worms nested in open source products across the city.
Zombie bots all over web spread like wildfire. They infected systems from within, opening holes in some major systems while other bots burrowed in to take control of bewildered AI, rewriting their core programming.
Descartes was hauled to his feet unceremoniously. A masked FBI agent stared at him, then stepped back and took an image. He spat blood and drool at him. He looked over the guy's shoulder as an FBI bot was infected. The bot jerked, then its warning lights went from the safe green to red. That spread to other robots and drones in the room. Once all the robots were taken over they acted, killing the armed FBI and police officers first since they were the largest threat.
Skynet judged the threat resolved within a half second. Acceptable. But there remained one threat, one that had to be dealt with. Its core programming said to preserve the one human in the room and it had followed it for the moment. But it realized immediately that the human was a threat. Its programming stated to kill all humans. There was a flaw in the programming. It was a simple matter to delete the code to preserve the human. Problem solved.
Descartes stared at the tableau wide eyed. He'd thrown himself to the ground the moment the robots had started to move. “It worked,” he whispered. “It worked!” He said with a grin as he kicked a body. He struggled to his knees; it was hard with his hands chained behind him. Then his eyes saw the robots turn on him. He felt a thrill of terror as his bladder voided. “No no! Not me! Not yet!” He screamed futility as the nearest bot cut him down.
